


Cuts and Bruises

by BossBaby



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Apologies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Forgiveness, Gen, Post-Neo World Program (Dangan Ronpa)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 22:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15471042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BossBaby/pseuds/BossBaby
Summary: A one-shot in which Peko gets burned when Fuyuhiko’s temper gets the better of him and the aftermath that follows.





	Cuts and Bruises

 

Fuyuhiko woke up in an overly foul mood. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that he was in a foul mood, period, given that one could hardly say they woke up if they had not gone to sleep in the first place.

Fuyuhiko had tossed and turned all night, suffering from a bout of insomnia as his mind decided to rehash some of his worst memories and spiral him into a vortex of guilt and remorse. The murder of his sister. The execution of Chiaki, which had thrown him and all his classmates into despair. The deplorable things he did as a Remnant of Despair. The simulated Killing Game.

Even though all of that had come to an end, and he and his awakened classmates were leading relatively peaceful lives on Jabberwock Island, the reality of the past still haunted him on a too frequent basis.

What’s more, the socket of his lost eye had been aggravating him for the last few days, the hollow area aching and serving as just another painful reminder of his failures.

Even with the comforting presence of Peko lying beside him, he had been unable to fall asleep. Thus, he was starting the day already in one of his moods, all fierce scowls and spitting fire.

The moment he took a seat at the breakfast table, he knew he should have just stayed in bed. His head was already throbbing with a ferocious headache, made worsened by the loud voices of his classmates.

“What the fuck, Mahiru. You tryin’ to figure out how to take a picture of it? Pass the fuckin’ coffee already!” He barked at Mahiru, who was taking an obscenely long time pouring out the caffeine he desperately needed.

“Hey! The hell are you snapping at her like that?” Hiyoko demanded.

Fuyuhiko turned to glare at the dancer. If anyone was in danger of making him lose his shit, it was going to be Hiyoko. “Stay out of this,” he hissed.

“Whoa, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?” Mahiru passed him the coffee pot, frowning.

“Geez Peko, I sure feel bad for you. It must be hellish waking up to that,” Hiyoko remarked.

And that did it.

“ _Fuck. You_.” He spat, fists coming down on the top of the table as he pushed back out of his seat.

The rest of his classmates at the table fell silent at the commotion and turned to look at him.

“Fuyuhiko.” He heard Peko say softly. Her hand landed gently on his forearm. He shrugged it off, refusing to look at her.

Unable to stand the concerned looks his classmates were throwing at him, he stalked off to the cottage he shared with Peko.

He pried open his door and slammed it with a satisfying bang.

His hand came up to rub at his temple where his headache was worsening. Fucking great, now he didn’t even get the coffee he needed.

He flopped down onto his bed, wondering if he could just sleep the day off. He had made up his mind to do just that when his door opened quietly and he watched Peko slip in.

She looked worried. “Are you okay?” she asked evenly.

“Fuckin’ great,” he mumbled.

She approached him cautiously, as if he were a wild animal that could attack at any moment. “You don’t seem…great.” She was looking at him with that intense gaze of hers.

“Well I am,” he replied sharply.

A few minutes of silence passed between them when he thought she was going to drop it and let him be, but then she spoke again.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I said I’m fine.”

“Do you want me to bring you a coffee?”

“No.”

“Would you like some breakfast?”

“ _No_ , Peko. For fuck’s sake, why don’t you just add ‘young master’ to that?” The biting barb flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

A flash of hurt flickered over Peko’s face.

**_FUCK._ **

“ _Shit, Peko_. I didn’t mean that–” He was up in an instant, heart racing.

“It’s…fine,” she said coolly. That perfectly blank mask Fuyuhiko fought so hard to unveil slid back into place, and he hated himself.

His hands itched to reach for her, to soothe away the damage that he had inflicted. _You don’t deserve to touch her, you fucking asshole._ He stopped himself.

The words he had hurled at her hung thick in the air like a slow poison between them.

His mind froze and for once, his voice caught in his throat. He wanted to choke out some desperate apology, but struggled to find something to say that could possibly alleviate the harm he had done to them. And so, the words died at his lips.

“I…I-I’m gonna go…” Fuyuhiko muttered, edging past her.

He paused at the door, silently wishing Peko would ask him not to leave even though he earned the right to be kicked out.

She was silent, refusing to meet his gaze.

So he left like a fucking coward.

* * *

Fuyuhiko wandered over to the diner on the Second Island.

Well, he was a Grade A fucking asshole. He took the one goddamn good thing in his life and just fucked it up. What the hell was wrong with him? He couldn’t believe he said that to Peko. They had worked so damn hard to overcome the roles that had been forced upon them since birth, and he had just thrown all that bullshit right back in her face.

She was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And they had tried desperately to build something different for themselves, something precious, and she had placed all her trust and faith in him not to break it. Then he had gone and shattered it to pieces like it hadn’t even fucking mattered.

It was sickening.

Peko deserved so much better than him. She shouldn’t have to put up with his temper, his brashness, his inability to reign in his emotions, and all his other endless weaknesses. Just like she shouldn’t have had to put up with all of his shit when they were younger. His family, the lies that had been fed to her about her self-worth, the youth that had been stolen from her, the way that he had stood there and let it happen. God, he had fucked up her life a thousand times over, and she had still chosen to remain by his side.

And he had let her, the selfish shit that he was. He needed her in the worst ways, needed her in a way that scared the shit out of him. And he had already lost her once, and he could not handle that again…he was positive that he would lose his mind.

But at what cost was that to her? All the things that she had to give up and put up with to be with him. He wasn’t worth any of it.

Fuyuhiko heard movement behind him and turned his head with a flicker of hope that it might be Peko.

It wasn’t. His heart sank and the scowl returned to his face.

“What’re you doing out here?” Hajime asked, taking an uninvited seat next to Fuyuhiko.

“Avoiding people like you,” Fuyuhiko said tersely, hoping he would take a hint.

“And why would you do that?”

_What a fucking dumbass._ Hajime had been there at breakfast when he had his little tantrum – was he just trying to be annoying on purpose?

“So no one else has to put up with my bullshit,” Fuyuhiko snapped. “Now could you please fuck off?”

“Does Peko know you’re here?”

Fuyuhiko stiffened at her name. “Why does it matter?”

“I’m sure it matters to her.”

Hajime’s calm tone made Fuyuhiko want to punch him in the face.

“Well it shouldn’t. I’m a piece of shit.”

“What happened, Fuyuhiko?”

His hands balled into tight fists.

“She came to check up on me…and I fuckin’ yelled at her for no goddamn reason…and I said something that I shouldn’t of…” Fuyuhiko burned with shame at the memory.

Hajime listened silently.

“She hates me.”

“You know Peko wouldn’t feel that way.”

“Well she fuckin’ should!” Fuyuhiko’s hand rubbed forcefully at his good eye in frustration.

“I thought those days of telling her what to do were over.”

_What a low blow._ Though he deserved it. Fuyuhiko glared at Hajime anyways.

“I’m not trying to be mean. Peko loves you, we can all see that. And she’s chosen to be with you, temper and all. Just like you chose her.”

“Yeah, well, Peko’s fuckin’ perfect. She’s obviously getting the raw end of this deal,” Fuyuhiko retorted.

“Somehow I get the sense that she doesn’t think that.”

“And how the fuck would you know that? She’s not here is she?”

“That seems to be more your choice than hers.”

“Tch. Whatever.”

“So what, you’re just out here feeling sorry for yourself?” Hajime asked in a neutral tone that had become far more characteristic since they came out of the simulation.

“Get fucked,” Fuyuhiko hissed. “It’s not like I invited you to have a fuckin’ heart to heart.”

“No, you’d rather just shut everyone out.”

Fuyuhiko gritted his teeth in annoyance.

“The others were pretty worried about you,” Hajime said quietly.

“Yeah, right,” Fuyuhiko snorted loudly.

“Give us a little more credit than that, Fuyuhiko.”

“You’re right. It’s me. In fact, didn’t you hear? I got an upgrade – I’m now Ultimate Jackass. Tell ‘em all so they can update my credentials.”

“Listen Fuyuhiko. Do you think we’re all just going to hate you cause you have some sort of outburst? It's not like it would be the first time. And anyways, that’s not how friendships work. We’re not just going to write you off when you mess up. Think about all the times one of the others has done something that pisses you off. Did you just decide ‘well that’s it, I’m done’? We’d have fallen apart way sooner if that was the case. Is that what you want?”

“ _Alright._ I fuckin’ get it. You can shut up about it now.” Fuyuhiko grumbled.

Hajime leaned back with a mild look of satisfaction.

“You done being the Ultimate Counselor, or is there more to this friendship speech?”

“Well, I can give you a speech about hope too, if you’d like.”

Fuyuhiko snorted. “Fuck off, Nagito.” He stood up, looking as if he were going to say more. But then, Fuyuhiko merely walked off with hands in his pockets.

When there was good distance between them, Fuyuhiko paused and without turning around, he muttered a quick “Thanks,” then headed in the direction of his and Peko’s shared cottage.

* * *

Fuyuhiko paused nervously in front of their cabin. _Would she even still be here?_ Maybe she had already packed all her things and moved out. He wouldn’t blame her for doing so.

His hand shook as he pushed open the door.

Peko was sitting on their bed, a book in her lap.

The rush of relief that flooded through him was so strong, it made him light-headed.

“Can…can I come in?” He asked hesitantly, lingering by the doorway.

“You may.” She held him in an unwavering gaze with her ruby eyes.

He swallowed hard and approached the bed.

Peko shifted and swung her long legs over the edge of the bed to make room for him, but he didn’t take the offered space.

Instead, Fuyuhiko crouched down on the floor in front of her.

“I’m so sorry, Peko.” His voice faltered. “I’m sorry for walking off at breakfast.” He suffocated on each breath he took. “I’m sorry for snapping at you, and saying the worst thing I could possibly say. There’s no fuckin’ excuse for why I said that, so I’m not gonna give you any.” His head hung miserably as he looked down. “And I’m really fuckin’ sorry for leaving you when I should’ve stayed and made things right.”

He released a shuddering breath, head still bowed low to stare at her knees because he couldn’t bear to look at her face and see the disappointment that he was sure would be brewing in her eyes.

“Fuyuhiko.”

He felt her hand against the side of his face, warm and light. Her thumb brushed delicately at the wet trail of tears down his cheek.

“Fuyuhiko, look at me please.”

He glanced up. The patience and warmth in Peko’s face was almost too much for him to handle.

“What you said was very hurtful.” The hint of sadness in her voice cut right through him like a sword digging straight into his core. But he earned it, so he nodded.

Fuyuhiko was glad she said it. Back then, when they were still trying to navigate through the earlier days of their relationship, Peko used to withdraw during their fights. She would brush it off with an automatic “It’s fine,” as she had done earlier. It took some time for them to stop dancing around each other. They had worked exhaustingly hard to get to where they were now – where they both agreed that it was important for her to express whenever she was hurt or upset by something. It was the only way they would be able to find a way to work it out together. They had come so far, yet they found themselves sliding back to old habits at times.

“But I believe that you didn’t mean what you said,” Peko continued gently. “And I believe you mean it when you say you are sorry.”

He felt his chest constricting on itself, and it was hard to swallow the growing lump in his throat.

“So I forgive you,” she said softly.

“I…wish you wouldn’t.” His voice was hoarse.

“And what good would that do?”

“Dunno,” he muttered.

“Please do not let this drag us down. I want us to move forwards…as we’ve been doing.”

“I love you, Peko. So fuckin’ much,” he choked out, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head into her lap.

He felt her hand rest on his head in a gentle caress. “I know.”

They stayed in the embrace for a long time. Still in his kneeled position, Fuyuhiko continued to murmur his regrets into Peko’s lap. Her patient replies elicited more quiet tears to seep into her tights.

_Sorry I’m such an asshole_. (I don’t think that of you.)

_I won’t say something like that again._ (Okay.)

_I swear it._ (I believe you.)

_Are you sure you want to… be with me?_ (I am sure.)

_I’m sorry._ (I forgive you.)

Eventually when he fell silent, Peko tugged him upwards, and steadied him with her firm hands.

He rubbed at his face briefly. “Guess I should apologize to Mahiru and Hiyoko too,” he sighed as he shifted onto the bed.

“I think they would appreciate that.”

“Will…you stay with me for bit?” He asked with a hand out in an open invitation.

She took it, and settled into the curve of his arm. “Always.”


End file.
